Page 20 of The Mistletoe Countess
Who on earth could he be? Not Father, from the youthfulness in the man’s tone. And what single man would dare tread in the women’s bedroom hallway? Mr. and Mrs. Whitlock ensured single men and women were judiciously separated on opposite sides of the house to keep from impropriety, as Father explained it. Though Grace still wasn’t fully aware of all the shades of such impropriety to which he referred.
“You’re asking too much, my dear.” Her sister’s voice staggered with pitiful sobs.
Grace rushed to the shadows of the secret stairs to help, but the male voice halted her in her steps. “We have only days to make a lifetime of memories. Please, come to my room again tonight.”
His room? Again! Grace’s palm flew to her mouth, barely catching her gasp. Lillias visited this man in his room? At night?
That wasn’t appropriate by any standard she’d ever read, unless for illness, birth, or when someone’s bed was on fire.
“I don’t know if I can.” The plea in her sister’s voice drew Grace a step closer.
“You found a way last night and the night before, and even this afternoon.”
Grace nearly dropped the books in her hands. Lillias was supposed to be in town visiting a friend this afternoon before dinner with Lord Astley.
Lord Astley!Her eyes grew wide. Her sister was marrying Lord Astley in a few days and spending the night with… Whom? She knew his voice. Her mind grasped for a face to match.
“I have loved you for years, Lillias. Give me these last hours! If we must live an ocean apart, I’ll not make you quit us so easily.”
For years? The voice clicked into place, and Grace dropped back against the wall to catch her weight. Anthony Dixon, their neighbor in Richmond.
“Easily?” The word tore from her sister with such agony Grace reached for her own throat in empathetic pain. “I leave my soul here with you when I go. I must do this for my family. For us. It’s the only way.”
Grace shook her head, trying to make sense of it. If Lillias loved Anthony Dixon, why would she agree to marry Lord Astley? Surely a title wasn’t worth this subterfuge and heartache.
“For us?” His tenor trembled like Grace’s ragged breaths. “How can your choice to marry another man be for us?”
Silence greeted his question, followed by the sound of a muffled sob. “I’m with child, Tony.”
Air stopped in Grace’s throat.
“No one can know. If Father breaks the contract with Lord Astley, he’ll be ruined. There’s no other way. I have to marry as soon as possible so no one will ever know.”
Grace’s stomach coiled until she bent from the pain. Poor Lillias. Poor Anthony. She squeezed the books to her chest. Poor Lord Astley.
“How…how could you do this?”
“I was going to back out of the agreement last month, but then I discovered…my situation. Father needs this alignment to solidify some of his business dealings, but I need it to keep from ruining my family’s reputation. If I don’t marry Lord Astley soon, he’ll know the baby isn’t his.”
A baby? Grace’s vision glossed over with a rush of tears. A lie?
“Lillias, you’re carryingmychild and my heart.” Anthony’s voice grated with raspy emotion. “You’re choosing to separate us forever.”
Grace squeezed her eyes closed, quelling a whimper.No, no, no. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Lord Astley and Lillias were supposed to live a fairy-tale future.Grace sent a look to the ceiling, the magnificent library painting of curious onlookers peered down to her from their lofty spot above, and she closed her eyes against their blank perusal. The only answer came from divine intervention beyond the painted ceiling, and Grace prayed that God would unleash a way of escape.God, whatever it takes, please make a way to redeem this broken thing. For Lillias, Tony…and for Lord Astley.
Chapter Seven
“Whatever happened to you at dinner last evening, Grace?”
Grace had avoided everyone until the next afternoon, strolling through the gardens and crying out for heavenly wisdom for this very earthly catastrophe. It seemed like a travail too large for even the assistance of fictional characters, though she did attempt a cursory view ofTess of the d’Urbervilles,which only left her feeling worse.
Her stomach twisted in nauseating knots, swinging her determination between keeping the secret for the sake of her sister and bringing out the truth for the sake of Lord Astley. By all accounts, he was a good man. He didn’t deserve this deception, but what would happen to Lillias if the truth surfaced? To her father? Lillias had said Father would be ruined.
Grace had never known such a dilemma in all her life. Her poor book of Psalms looked much more worn for the wear, and the pages in her prayer book crinkled from the unavoidable dripping of tears.
She’d always tried to do the right thing, even if she’d bumbled it. Truth and goodness gave a great deal of hope to the world. But how on earth could God mend such a broken situation? Was there even a way without irreparable damage? She knew He was in the business of heal-ing hearts and situations, but this seemed a monstrous task by every human account. It was all very well and good to kill giants with stones and rain fire from heaven, but earls and fortunes and middle-class busi-nessmen were terribly absent in the Bible.Please help me, Lord. Show me how to make things right.
Her heart squeezed within her chest as she looked across the room at her sister. There was nothing else to do but for Grace to relinquish her fight. “I know, Lillias.”
